But those numbers are a far cry from what they were in the beginning of the season. While the wins have yet to come in bunches, Hiller has steadily improved in the other categories as he has allowed only two goals in each of his last five starts.

Dating back to his Oct. 17 start against Phoenix, Hiller is 3-2-0 with a 1.99 goals-against average and a .936 save percentage. The credit, he said, should be spread to a defense corps that has provided more stable play in its end.

“I think the whole team has gotten a lot closer,” Hiller said. “We don’t give up that many quality scoring chances any more. Not that many shots anymore. It’s always good if you can get two goals or less against. That’s always a good chance your team can win.

“That’s what we need right now. I can’t win it by myself but I can give the team a chance to win every night. I’m trying to. It’s working out pretty well right now.”

Trust in his defensemen is building as the play of rookie Cam Fowler and the additions of veterans Toni Lydman and Andreas Lilja have improved the Ducks’ ability to get out of their own zone after a disastrous beginning in which they allowed an average of 48.3 shots per game in their first three contests.

“We had so many new faces,” Hiller said. “And then we had some injuries and some changes. It always takes some time to get used to each other. It’s not just about playing the puck. It’s always about knowing where my rebounds go and knowing what they do, where they stand. And it just takes some time to kind of find each other.

“We’re definitely going in the right direction. But I still think there can be improvement. At the end, it’s the six guys on the ice that have to work as a unit. That’s sometimes missing a little bit but I think it’s definitely better than it was at the beginning of the year.”

Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said that he’s encouraged Hiller to become more active in playing the puck and helping the defense start its transition up ice.

“I talked to him about his last game specifically,” Carlyle said. “He seemed to be more involved in the game from a standpoint of getting out of his crease the odd time to track down a puck and set it up for our defensemen.

“Cross-corner dumps in new [rules] hockey are a big part of puck recovery and if you can get your goaltender active in the net to set the pucks up properly for your defensemen, then you have that transfer from defense to offense quicker. The one pass out is always what we coaches would love to have happen on every puck recovery in the defensive zone.”

— Saku Koivu isn’t pleased that he’s only put up two goals and two assists in his first 13 games. The Ducks’ second-line center readily acknowledged that he has to provide more than he usual stout defense and penalty killing.

“I’ve just got to get more offensive,” Koivu said. “I think there’s things that we do well. Bottom line, you’ve got to get the wins and get goals and bring the offense. I have to do better.”

Koivu had a similar slow start last season but ultimately finished with another 50-point season and a team-best plus-14 rating. He has a minus-4 rating.

His line, with Jason Blake on his left and Teemu Selanne on his right, has had its moments on five-on-five play in the offensive end but they’ve failed more often than not to convert on chances.

“At the end of the day, if you can’t show anything in the paper, then it doesn’t really matter,” Koivu said. “You get one chance, you’ve got to put it in. The more chances you create, then the chances are better to score goals. But right now, we have to get more.”

Koivu is impressed with the start Selanne has had. The winger, who becomes the 10th European player to have appeared in 1,200 career games tonight, has a team-leading six goals and is second behind Ryan Getzlaf with 14 points.

“He’s getting it going right now,” Koivu said. “That’s a good sign and a good thing. We’ve got to have to have scoring come from more guys.”

— Here’s the line combinations and defense pairings for tonight against the Penguins:

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